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Social Media - the Home of the Hashtag


After checking all is well with the team this morning, our video conferencing call turned to the subject of social media, planning content for the next few weeks. The creative bunch came up with a variety of great ideas but, inevitably, the dreaded 'hashtag' reared its head. Yes, a tweet is not a tweet without a hashtag or two, three, four. Making sure everyone in the universe knows what we are doing and making it relevant. The dilemma is what is relevant. Today is #MysteryMonday, a 'guess the object' post by one team member with the answer unveiled in the evening (today it's a PIAT - hope I haven't spoilt the fun!). This will be followed by #WorkshopWednesday and #PhotoFriday. Oooo, we do all like a bit of alliteration. 

So I am blogging this evening to co-incide with another hashtag activity - #MuseumHour -when us heritage types, with no life, congregate on our laptops posting messages and support for the cultural sector folk. From the comfort of my own home, my current working environment, I can share the frustration and the pain of running a Museum from behind closed doors. Well, actually, from four miles down the road. #MuseumsFromHome 
So this little symbol that occupies the righthandside of my keyboard has become a mechanism for grouping relevant content and then moves on to 'trending topics.' Surely a rise in importance like no other QWERTY key!

But hey, it is also #CumbriaHour at the sametime. Two hashtags for the price of one! However, the subject on Cumbria hour is working from home. Apparently, the first thing I shouldn't do is work at home in my pyjamas. Whoops, have just committed the ultimate sin this evening. Thank goodness this is not a video conference call. I am not sure I have quite got this tweeting etiquette right. I am slightly distracted by my cat that has come to join me rather than following the thread. Oh, I have all the lingo! And I have just admitted on social media that I am consuming vasts amount of food whilst working at home. Getting more response to that comment than any coronavirus messaging. Maybe I am not taking this seriously. #workingfromhome

Would I be doing this social media interaction if it wasn't for the #coronavirus #COVID-19 situation that we are all immersed in? If I wasn't confined to barracks? Possibly. Juggling two hashtags and a blog? Who knows. There is a whole wide virtual world of people out there that are interacting with each other without leaving their own houses, without being in the same room. On closer inspection I hadn't appreciated how much goes on in this world - podcasts, photographs, trending topics, questions and quizzes. Fascinating and quite addictive, but I must stay in control and concentrate on the task in hand.  These hashtags can lead you astray, you know.

#TeamAlmaNeedsYourSupport 

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